The Little Engine That Couldn’t

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Remember the refrain from the children’s book, “The Little Engine That Could”? As the small engine worked to pull an impossible load, it sang, “I think I can! I think I can!” That engine, built only to shuttle...

The Crazy Man Wasn’t So Crazy After All

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford “A crazy man lives there,” my girl friends would giggle as we passed a small house on our way to school every day. The “crazy” man’s house was on West Seminary Street, just four blocks from our home in Wheaton, Illinois....

Failures Forgiven and Forgotten?

I did not know the woman who knocked on the parsonage door one morning, but her face looked like a tragedy mask carved in granite. “I’ve come,” she said, “because I need to take back four words I said.” “Let’s have a cup of coffee, and you tell can me about it.” Her...